S’Eagles Friendly Will Be Known After AFCON Draw – NFF

LAGOS – The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has hinted that it would be detrimental for the Super Eagles to play friendly games against teams that would be in the same group with them, revealing that the main friendly matches for the national team would be determined after the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations draws have been made.

Egypt Football Association (EFA) has revealed that the draw for the competition scheduled for June would be done in the first week of April.

Hani Abo Rida, President of EFA, said that the draw would take place in the first week of April, assuring that everything would be fine to stage a hitch-free tournament.

“We are looking at the first week of April,” he reportedly said after a question on the date for the draw was thrown at him.

“By that time, everything concerning the qualifiers would have been put to rest. Also, all remaining logistical issues would have been sorted out.”

Consequently, an official of the NFF, who craved anonymity, revealed that after the draw, the football house would arrange few matches against African oppositions for the Super Eagles.

The official noted that everything concerning friendly matches would be left open until after the draw in order for the three-time African champions not to clash with their group opponents during preparations.

Chibuike Chukwu is a Senior Correspondent with Independent Newspapers Limited, a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN). He has reported sports, especially football, for more than eight years and presently writes on Nigeria football league, the national football teams as well as other sports. His professional career has taking him through a couple of media organizations. He is a graduate of the University of Calabar.